"EGR DELETE" Instructions

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by Paladain55, Jun 17, 2023.

  1. mjoo

    mjoo Senior Member

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    I've unplugged the EGR and it's been great. No headgasket yet.

    Not a fan of the PCV to atmosphere. Having a slight vacuum in the crankcase is a good thing that boils off water and fuel. I might check it with an oil analysis to know if PCV is still doing its job.

    SM-A536V ?
     
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  2. CR94

    CR94 Senior Member

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    You could check that more easily, by ascertaining that fresh air is entering the PCV intake.

    Between the time of draft tubes, but before universal PCV, some engines got by with an intermedate stage, whereby blowby was vented to the upstream side of the throttle plate, so there was no fresh air entering the crankcase. That met the requirement not to dump nasty blowby gases into our atmosphere, but did nothing to flush condensation out of the crankcase.
     
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  3. Bill Norton

    Bill Norton Senior Member

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    This is so true!
    With the pcv valve tubing directed to the atmosphere there is NO FLOW of air in the crankcase.
    The crankcase blow-by gasses can just as easily go back towards the 'fresh air in' port,, as they are to push through the PCV valve which is expecting a lower pressure to suck the gases out.

    A slightly lower pressure in the crankcase is good for the seals, rotating and stationary seals.
     
  4. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    Back in the day, it was directed to the atmosphere through a 'road draft tube' that pointed down into the slipstream underneath the car. When you were moving at any sort of speed, that would suck the crankcase vapors out, while air flowed in through a breather filter somewhere else on an engine, flowing right through the crankcase.

    Of course it didn't provide much draft when the car was moving slowly or stopped.
     
  5. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk MMX GEN III

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    Googled:

    If every car owner in a city were to cause their cars to vent the crankcase fumes to the atmosphere, what would be the environmental impact? Say Los Angeles.

    The AI response:

    Venting crankcase fumes directly to the atmosphere in a dense city like Los Angeles would cause a significant increase in volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and hazardous hydrocarbons, worsening air quality and increasing respiratory health issues. This would dramatically increase photochemical smog formation and create a toxic, pungent environment due to high levels of unburned fuel vapors, particularly with LA’s smog-trapping, bowl-shaped topography.
    Key environmental and health impacts include:

    • Increased Smog: Crankcase emissions contain VOCs that, when exposed to intense sunlight, accelerate the formation of ground-level ozone, a major component of LA's infamous smog.
    • Toxic Air Pollution: The fumes release concentrated pollutants like benzene and other hydrocarbons directly into the air, aggravating respiratory illnesses like asthma and bronchitis.
    • Failure of Pollution Control: Modern pollution control (like Positive Crankcase Ventilation, or PCV systems) is designed to recirculate these fumes back into the engine to burn them, which this action would bypass.
    • Environmental Degradation: The increased pollutants, combined with LA's temperature inversions, would trap harmful substances near the ground, reducing visibility and causing long-term damage to air quality.
    This action would effectively return air quality conditions to a pre-1960s level, when such emissions were not regulated, significantly raising health risks for residents.
     
  6. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    I see Immanuel Kant has entered the chat! :)

    Made me think "let's really put Gemini through its paces...."

    Please consider the question "If every car owner in a city were to cause their cars to vent the crankcase fumes to the atmosphere, what would be the environmental impact?" and discuss how an individual's decision to so vent the crankcase might be scrutinized in other, less Kantian, moral theories.​


    Not too shabby, this AI stuff. :D
     
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  7. Bill Norton

    Bill Norton Senior Member

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    Some old crap had the Big'ol oil fill cap as the 'filtered' inlet of air. It had a wire mesh inside.
    I doubt there was any measurable lower pressure in the CC due to the 'baloney' cut on that tube. It was just an easier path out for the blowby, but far from the slightly lower pressure in the CC with a modern PVC system.
    You used to see it puffing out blowby fumes back in the day when the turd was stopped.

    Anyways, I hope this discussion keeps the polluting Offenders awake at night....:cool:
     
  8. CR94

    CR94 Senior Member

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    That oiled mesh filler cap, first used by "old crap" Chevrolets in 1955, was not a super-efficient air cleaner, but it was still a big improvement over the open holes in the rocker cover my parents' 1954 had---especially if you lived on a gravel road, which we did.
     
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  9. Monkey-like

    Monkey-like Junior Member

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    My EGR system in my gen3 was kinda dirty but the valve was the issue. it was stuck open. inside the valve was the dirtiest part. I found out the details of the valve after I fully cleaned the EGR system. Im really considering just leaving this unplugged now tbh. I really don't want to mess with this again. Although I did leave the bottom bracket bolt off the cooler because that was an absolute B***H to get off. So the next time I mess with the EGR system it will be a bit easier. I mean seriously, I spent like an hour and a half trying to get that bottom nut off. It was tight. I had to move around so much stuff to fit my impact driver in there to crack it.

    I have no choice but to leave the valve unplugged anyway for the time being until I decide if i'm going to replace or clean it.

    I just went for a drive in my gen3 with it unplugged and honestly the engine feels smoother than it did before the EGR valve issue. Im going to maybe leave it unplugged actually but just keep an eye on everything.

    Btw why is there no temp gauge?
     
  10. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk MMX GEN III

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    It’s tough to access, but good lord: you don’t need to use an impact on that. Back out the stud there too, and then (with the one stud at the EGR valve removed), you can leave on the 2 studs at exhaust manifold connection, pull the cooler straight forward and out. Those studs will retain the rear gasket too, and align everything during reinstall.

    what was the miles btw?